Tales From the Citadel
|director = Dominic Polcino |prev = Rest and Ricklaxation |next = Morty's Mind Blowers |name = Tales From the Citadel |network = Adult Swim}}"Tales From the Citadel," marketed as "The Ricklantis Mixup," is the seventh episode of the third season of Rick and Morty. It is the 28th episode of the series overall. It premiered on September 10, 2017. It was written by Ryan Ridley and directed by Dominic Polcino. Synopsis Atlantis here we come Broh! A nice self contained episode about Atlantis! Plot As Rick and Morty prepare to go to Atlantis, they're interrupted by a Rick and Morty pair looking for donations to the Citadel Redevelopment fund. Our Rick and Morty refute the possibility of donation with hostility, pointing out that our Rick was the one to destroy it in the first place, and the pair leave. The scene then cuts to show a fully-fledged, well-developed Citadel, which has extended beyond being a mere government into the territory of being a (mostly) functional society consisting only of Ricks and Mortys. The Citadel makes quick work of recuperating from Rick's attempted destruction of it, with workers restructuring its foundation, commuters proceeding with their work and an election going on. Contention surrounds the fact that a Morty has decided to run a political campaign, with the news anchor Ricks sardonically and aggressively defaming him on the news, leading Campaign Manager Morty to suggest that Politician Morty withdraw from the race. Despite this, Politician Morty refuses. Meanwhile, a Morty Pride rally/protest is occurring on the streets. Here, a newly recruited Cop Rick, while standing outside the Cafe Sanchez, is surprised to discover that he has been paired with a jaded and critical Cop Morty, who possesses anti-Morty sentiments and tasers any Morty that gets close to his car, calling them slurs such as "yellow-shirts", (much to the surprise of Cop Rick). Despite being called out, Cop Morty digresses that no one cares about broken codes or corruption. The pair are called to attend to a robbery committed in "Mortytown," a ghetto populated by Mortys who, for some reason or another, were deemed unsuitable for pairing with another Rick. While this occurs, a Morty school is in session, where Mortys are being educated on how to act for when they are been reassigned a new Rick. After the lesson, they are told they will graduate and be assigned a new Rick the following day. Hearing this, Lizard Morty, Glasses Morty and Left-Handed Morty (Left Hand Morty) are encouraged by Slick Morty to make the most of their small amount of time left together by going to the "wishing portal". The four eventually agree to embark on the journey together. As this takes place, a factory producing Simple Rick's wafers (wafers doused in the psychic resonance of Simple Rick and his memory of having spent time with a young Beth on her birthday), the Rick who would later become the Factory Terrorick (Rick J-22) is passed by for a promotion in favor of Cool Rick (K-83). Meanwhile, Cop Rick and Cop Morty arrive in Mortytown to investigate the reported robbery, where Cop Rick learns more about the resident Mortys and what conditions they live with. The pair question the Morty Mart Manager Morty, who describes the robbers' appearances as four normal-looking Mortys. Whilst Cop Rick attempts to attain more information, Cop Morty uses his Morty-like nature to attempt to get some insider information from some vandalizing Mortys. After the vandalizing Mortys criticize him on his uniform and his relation to Rick, Cop Morty snaps, forcefully interrogating them and learning that a group called the "Mortytown Locos" were the ones who committed the crime. Cop Rick, shocked at Cop Morty's violation of codes, is ordered to get back into the car. During this, the Presidential Election Campaign has commenced, with the candidate Ricks all providing their own solutions to issues currently surrounding the Citadel. When the time comes for Politician Morty to offer his solution to the social divide between Ricks and Mortys, he is mocked by his rivals. However, he answers with clarity and delivers the conclusion that the great divide is a result of the death of the Citadel, and that the main solution is recognizing how there are many Ricks and Mortys who believe in the Citadel's prosperity and success, as opposed to those who don't. As the crowd responds with great applause, Campaign Manager Morty is amazed by Politician Morty's success, to which Politician Morty responds by firing him. As Politician Morty delivers his message, Rick J-22 manages to snap in rage, killing the Regional Manager Rick and forcing himself to retreat into the Simple Rick's Factory's Flavor Core with an unconscious Simple Rick, locking the room around him. As he is shown trapped in the room, SWAT Team Ricks begin to swarm the building, attempting to negotiate and rationalize with Rick J-22, but with no success. As Campaign Manager Morty watches the event unfold on the TV from a bar, the news coverage switches back towards the highly-likely victory for Politician Morty and his speeches. Displaying his negative feelings of the situation, Campaign Manager Morty is then confronted by Investigator Rick, who delivers some secret files and warns him that he should be fearful of what is to come. In Mortytown, the Mortytown Locos are also watching the same speeches, as Bootleg Portal Chemist Rick is attempting to create Bootleg Portal Fluid for inter-dimensional transport. At the same time, Cop Rick and Cop Morty break down the door, apprehending three of the Mortytown Locos. Bootleg Portal Chemist Rick attempts to escape through his own portal fluid, only to be killed due to issues of its bootleg-nature. Cop Rick then scouts around upstairs to find the fourth member of the Mortytown Locos, who plays with Rick's sympathy and stabs him in the shoulder. Rick quickly shoots the fourth member, and Cop Morty comforts Rick, saying that it is alright to put your faith in Mortys, but only the right ones. As Rick leaves to get medical treatment, Cop Morty then destroys the building. Meanwhile, Lizard Morty, Glasses Morty, Slick Morty, and Left-Handed Morty attempt to take some mega fruit, only to be chased off into a stream by an angry Mega Fruit Farmer Rick and his robot dog. As time turns to night, the group then gather around a campfire, where they converse over their wishes. Slick Morty, however, presents negative, dramatic opinion, causing Glasses Morty to comfort him by clarifying that he is more than just a dramatic person. Whilst this occurs, Politician Morty leaves Hard Rick Cafe to a large crowd of Ricks and Mortys who are excited over his recent statements. Within this crowd, Politician Morty spots his former Campaign Manager Morty and asks about his job search. Campaign Manager Morty states his new job is to assassinate Politician Morty as he pulls a gun from his jacket and shoots Politician Morty, causing him to bleed and lose consciousness. Campaign Manager Morty is then swiftly tasered by a Secret Service Rick, causing him to be apprehended. Following their recent handling of the Mortytown Locos, Cop Morty takes Cop Rick to a club called The Creepy Morty, where he meets Big Morty, a drug-lord who presents Cop Rick and Cop Morty with money for their efforts. Cop Rick, having moral issues with this action, attempts to make an arrest of Big Morty, but causes a shootout in the club. During this shootout, Cop Morty tackles Big Morty to the ground, ready to kill. However, Cop Rick attempts to get Cop Morty to do the right thing, knowing he is capable of doing so. Cop Morty attempts to play with Rick's sympathy, only to end Big Morty by surprise, but Rick expected it this time and kills him before he can turn on him. Cop Rick leaves the club, where he surrenders to the other police officers over the death of the many Mortys in the club. Meanwhile, Rick J-22's negotiation for a working portal gun seemingly succeeds, causing the SWAT Team Ricks to deliver him a portal gun. Rick J-22 then awakens Simple Rick from his long unconscious state and sends him through the portal first, revealing that the dimension the portal gun was set to was the Blender Dimension and leads to Simple Rick's death. As he holds no leverage, the SWAT team finally cut a hole in the door to rush in, only to be stopped by Rick D. Sanchez III, who sympathizes with Rick J-22, letting him go free. However, as he is set free, a narrative voice appears again, revealing that Rick J-22's attempted escape is just a replaying memory which the company is feeding off of to create their new product. Lizard Morty, Glasses Morty, Slick Morty, and Left-Handed Morty all manage to get to the Wishing Portal, where they all throw something of value to them in return for a wish. Left-Handed Morty throws in his panini maker, wishing for a million sandwiches, while also acknowledging the irony of his wish. Lizard Morty throws in his surfer necklace, wishing for something better in return. Glasses Morty throws in a piece of technology, wishing for incest porn to be more mainstream. However, Slick Morty becomes sad and expresses his wish for life to change for Mortys, ultimately throwing himself into the portal. It is then later revealed that the portal is part of a garbage dump. Meanwhile, Campaign Manager Morty is thrown into an airlock chamber by Secret Service Ricks, revealing to him that his assassination attempt failed and that Politician Morty will become the President of the Citadel. Campaign Manager Morty attempts to warn them that Politician Morty is not who he seems, but the Secret Service Ricks disregard him, sending him out into the vacuum of space. Cop Rick is shown in a small interrogation room, ready to accept his punishment, when council members enter, telling him that he is free and none of his actions matter, due to the changes in department codes. Lizard Morty, Glasses Morty, and Left-Handed Morty return to Morty School, only to find Teacher Rick to be locking the doors, revealing that no Ricks will be coming for the graduation and that he is fired, due to changes in the curriculum. The trio believes that Slick Morty's wish came true, where now a new, different life is available for Mortys. Rick D. Sanchez III enters a room with the Shadow Council of Ricks and the new President Morty. One member of the Council, Garment District Rick, then raises his opinion, stating that it doesn't matter who sits in the president's chair as the Council has, and always will, have control over the Citadel. President Morty, who has his back to them, responds to this by holding up his mirror and having the Ricks raise their hand if they agree with that statement before calling his guards to assassinate those who agreed. President Morty then asks the surviving Ricks, who are all now terrified, if they will obey and they agree. A montage shows new banners being deployed, Cop Rick going back to work, the trio of Lizard Morty, Glasses Morty, and Left-Handed Morty clad in new uniforms and harvesting mega fruits, and the corpses of the council members being dragged into airlock chambers, while President Morty ponders about making a "cold, calculated speech with sinister overtones" about the changes in politics, about order, brotherhood, and power, only to declare that, now that he is elected, the time for speeches is over and he can finally act. The dead council members are expelled into space, where they join the floating bodies of many Ricks and Mortys, including Cop Morty, Big Morty, Investigator Rick, and lastly Campaign Manager Morty, shown next to the secret documents which reveal the newly-elected "President Morty" is none other than Evil Morty. In the post-credit scene, Rick C-137 and his Morty return from their Atlantis adventure, where they boast and recollect about their sexual interactions with the mermaids. Morty asks Rick if he is concerned at all about the Citadel's return, to which he confidently responds that such a place "will never have any bearing over their lives ever again". Cast and characters Deaths *Cop Morty *Campaign Manager Morty *Investigator Rick *Slick Morty *Simple Rick *Big Morty *Big Morty's Body Guard Mortys *Rick D. Sanchez III *Garment District Rick *All but two members of Shadow Council of Ricks *Reverse Rick Outrage *A Businessman Rick *Bald Rick *Big Morty's Body Guard Mortys *Cyclops Rick *Regional Manager Rick *Red Sweater Rick *Bootleg Portal Chemist Rick *3 Mortytown Locos *Psychopath Morty *Adjudicator Rick *Rick Sanchez (D716) *Many unnamed Ricks *Many unnamed Mortys Location * Replacement Dimension * Citadel of Ricks * Mortytown * Morty School * Simple Rick’s Wafer Cookie factory * Morty Mart * The Creepy Morty * Blender Dimension (mentioned) * E. Sanchez Heights (mentioned) * The Wishing Portal * Hard Rick Cafe * Zorpantheon 9 (mentioned) Episode notes Trivia * This is the second episode (first was "Interdimensional Cable 2: Tempting Fate") that does not include the classic intro. *In celebration of Season 3, [[Pocket Mortys|''Pocket Mortys']] weekly updates will coincide with new episodes, including new avatars for players to collect. With the release of this episode came: General Rick, Farmer Rick, Tycoon Rick, Cop Rick and Candidate Rick Guilt as avatars, and Parade Morty, Pride Morty, Flower Morty, Festival Morty and Big Morty to catch. *With the exception of the narration for the ''Simple Rick's commercial (voiced by Jeff B. Davis) and a single line from a young Beth, this episode was entirely voiced by Justin Roiland as the various Ricks and Mortys. *This episode was distributed and marketed under the title "The Ricklantis Mixup", in order to prevent the premise and contents of the episode from being leaked months before the episode's release. *Beth appears only as a young child, Jerry is only mentioned, and Summer does not appear at all in this episode. *The lockers at the Morty School all have a photo of Jessica identical to C-137's. *All Ricks are shown to be alcoholics, and many possess the same belch as Rick C-137. *Citadel Morning News 5 is hosted and maintained by Ricks from the dimension D716 and its alphabetical variations. *Beth is shown with a horse in a photo in Simple Rick's house. This may have influenced how she grew up to become a horse surgeon. *Simple Rick is shown wrapping up a present for Beth with a unicorn on it. This is likely to be another reference to Beth's love of horses. *The Latin on the classroom board of Morty School states "MOTTO AUTEM DIEM: ACTA NON VERBA," which translates to "MOTTO OF THE DAY: ACTIONS NOT WORDS," *There is a poster in the classroom of Morty School which says the word "Recycle" and show the recycle triangle symbol. Interestingly, in the center of that triangle is the face of a Morty. *During the episode, it's stated that the number of displaced Mortys are soaring and the Rick satisfaction levels are plummeting. *The helmet which Rick J-22 and Simple Rick wear to relive their memories has a pink part on top, which possibly could be a time crystal in order to keep his mindset in one specific time. *The Citadel has a slum section called Mortytown which is occupied by Rickless Mortys. One of Mortytown's streets is named after the sound of Rick's belch. *In The Creepy Morty club there is a Morty playing a pinball machine called Pocket Pool which has the words crank, spank, pull, and yank on its backglass, which are all slang terms for masturbation. *In the beginning of the episode, the Rick and Morty who come out of the portal looking for funds do not immediately realize that Rick and Morty C-137 are the ones who murdered the council, as seen in the line, "Oh. That was you," a callback to the fact that while the Rick and Morty are from C-137, they abandoned that dimension and went to one where they fixed the Cronenberg virus but died soon after. The Rick and Morty funding thought that C-137 RnM were from whatever dimension the show is currently in, or was, as in Morty's Mind Blowers it is shown that was not the only time C-137 has hopped dimensions. Series continuity *Rick C-137 doesn't seem to have any hard feelings towards the Citadel of Ricks for trying to kill him. He is only bothered by the unexpected visit of Rick and Morty K-22. Morty, on the other hand, is more hostile towards them because the Council tried to kill Rick. It is also a silent nod to Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender where Rick says that he doesn't hold grudges against anyone who tried to kill him. *Evil Morty returns from Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind. *As with Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind, Evil Morty's reveal is accompanied by "For The Damaged Coda" by Blonde Redhead. *It is revealed the Citadel of Ricks was rebuilt after it was heavily damaged during the episode "The Rickshank Rickdemption." Some of the damage is still visible, with many buildings in ruins and rebuilding still in progress. *Simple Rick physically resembles a young Rick seen in the episode "The Rickshank Rickdemption." *Mega Trees from the Pilot make an appearance. *The cracks on the ground surrounding the house can still be seen following the events from the episode "Ricksy Business." *On the wall of Psychopath Morty's room, there is the message "Get Shwifty," a reference to the episode "Get Schwifty." *During the rally attended by Cop Rick and Cop Morty, Mortys are shown holding signs that reference previous episodes. One says "Nobody exists on purpose" which C-137 Morty told Summer during Rixty Minutes while another says "Don't be trippin' dog" which is similar to C-137 Rick's line "Don't even trip dog" in The Lawnmower Dog . Cultural references *The song that played during the introduction of the Citadel is In the City by Joe Walsh/Eagles, sung in the episode by Justin Roiland. * The Cop Rick and Cop Morty storyline seems to be inspired by Training Day. * Teacher Rick resembles Severus Snape from the Harry Potter franchise. In the Harry Potter films, Snape is played by Alan Rickman which may be a play Rickman's surname containing the word Rick. * The four Mortys are a reference to The Body by Stephen King and its film adaptation, Stand by Me. * In the bar scene, there is a Morty with a red vest, a short messy haircut, and jeans referencing Marty from Back to the Future. * Evil Morty's debate speech bears similarities to Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.'' ** Also his line: "If I'd have to fear anything, I'd fear other people being afraid of fear, itself, but no, I'm not afraid." is a nod to Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidential inauguration speech. * Cafe Sanchez is a reference to Starbucks. * While riding in the police car, music can be heard reminiscent of the title track from ''GTA: San Andreas. * The Citadel's police cars are reminiscent of the police cars in The Fifth Element. * Cop Morty calling the other Mortys "Yellow Shirts" is a reference to a Thai political protest movement known as the "People's Alliance for Democracy", whose members are often also referred to as "Yellow Shirts". ** It can also be seen as a reference to Star Trek’s 'redshirts', whose appellation has propagated beyond the Trekkie fandom to designate any expendable character. *Evil Morty's assassination attempt and resulting election victory resembles Bob Roberts. *In the outer space shot in the background a Rick can be seen wearing a blue vault suit, a reference to Fallout. * Evil Morty's presidential campaign has some similarities to Donald Trump's presidential campaign ** Nobody believed that he can win and his presidential bid was at first considered a joke. ** He was an anti-establishment candidate who promised change. ** He fired his campaign manager. * Evil Morty's rise to power mirrors that of Adolf Hitler ** Both are master orators, winning over the masses through speech and charisma. ** Unlike Hitler, however, Evil Morty did not publish a book detailing his beliefs or true political plans. *Retired General Rick is a reference to John McCain, Private Sector Rick is a reference to Mitt Romney, Juggling Rick is a reference to Hillary Clinton, Rick Guilt Rick is a reference to James McMillan, Reverse Rick Outrage is a reference to Bernie Sanders. Evil Morty seems to be a reference to Barack Obama but also shows similarities to Donald Trump. *The scene in which Evil Morty kills off all of his henchmen that admit to opposing him is a reference to James Bond: Thunderball ''in which the same thing happens. *In "The Creepy Morty", there is a Morty who has very similar facial characteristics as Justin Roiland. *In the crowd of the election campaign, there is a Rick who has similar facial characteristics as Caesar Flickerman from the ''Hunger Games franchise. *Hard Rick Cafe is a reference to the popular franchise Hard Rock Cafe. *The ending of Rick J-22's subplot is a nod to the ending of the book 1984. **It can also be seen as a nod to the ending of Terry Gilliam's Brazil, where the main character is believed to have escaped the tyrannical society he lived in, only to be revealed as a fantasy where his mind retreated. **The end of this subplot could also be a reference to the flim Repo Men. It was revealed at the finale of the movie that one of the characters who was experiencing pleasant memories, was actually in a coma after getting severe brain damage. *Slow Rick/"Tall Morty" in the Morty School scene bears much of a resemblance to the one from the comics, as "Dumb Rick". It has been theorized that this Rick is actually him. *Plumber Rick is possibly a reference to Mario, but given that it is occurring in an election subplot is much more likely a reference to Joe the Plumber, who was momentarily a central figure in the 2008 US Presidential Election. *One of the Mortys in '"The Creepy Morty" has a daisy sprouting from his head, a likely reference to the Dr. Seuss story Daisy-Head Mayzie. *One of the Ricks in the audience wears a similar outfit to Ford Pines from Gravity Falls. Transcript View a transcript of the episode here. Site Navigation Category:Season 3 episodes Category:Rick Episodes Category:Morty Episodes Category:Sequels